Coach Andre Pederneiras is refuting rumors that Jose Aldo is planning to retire.
It was Jose Aldo (31-8 MMA) vs Merab Dvalishsvili (15-4 MMA) on Saturday, August 20th at UFC 278. The bantamweight battle saw ‘The Machine’ defeat Aldo via unanimous decision.
Following the fight, Dvalishvili recounted what Aldo told him when speaking on ‘The MMA Hour’ saying:
“When he was down and I (went) to shake his hand and tell him, ‘Thank you so much for the fight,’ and I go to respect him, he was down, and I tried to help him, and he was telling me, he said, ‘That means this is my last fight, because it was my last run to title. And then he said, ‘I guess I’m done.”
However, Jose Aldo’s coach wants to set the record straight.
In an interview with ‘Ag Fight’, Andre Pederneiras addressed rumors of Aldo’s retirement (h/t Bloody Elbow):
“They’ve made a mini-documentary about me and Aldo, about our relationship and shedding some light on the times he lost. He would turn to me and say ‘I’m going to stop. I don’t want to do this anymore.’ If you only knew how many times an athlete loses and says they don’t want anything to do with MMA anymore. After a couple of days, they’re right back at it. I haven’t heard that from just Aldo.”
Continuing Andre said:
“This is what I always tell them ‘do what you want today, we’ll talk later.’ I’m sure nothing has changed. Unless he brings that up again in the coming weeks, which I don’t think he will. Sometimes it’s just anger. It’s normal to say things. I want to see the champions who are in this life and are able to remain in the top 5 like Aldo. Most guys in Aldo’s age, they retire after conquering what Aldo has conquered. Aldo is still winning. He’s top 2 or top 3 now.”
Jose Aldo, ‘Junior’, is 35 years old, but his coach hopes to get his star pupil on UFC 283’s Rio de Janeiro card slated for January 21, 2022.
“We’re in August and the card is in January. That’s time enough to get ready. We have to talk to the UFC, see what they think. It’s a lot to consider.”
Would you like to see Jose Aldo fight in his home country of Brazil this coming January before making any decision to hang up his gloves?
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